During manufacturing work such as machining, routing, cutting, and welding, the work piece is often held by clamps when a manufacturing tool engages it. Such clamps include bar clamps, C-clamps, vises, and other clamping tools. In manufacturing operations where a tool engages the work piece with some force, clamping at fixed or distanced locations may not be sufficient to hold the work piece in position. There may be a distance between the manufacturing tool and the implied clamp or clamps. Further, clamping may not be engaged in those areas near the tool as it engages the work piece.
In friction stir welding, a process that plastically bonds metals, plunging the friction stir welding tool into a weld line of a work piece and moving the tool along the weld line can push the parts of the work piece being welded away from the underlying structure, or away from each other. Accordingly, there is an unmet need for clamping systems that can engage a work piece along a working area for a manufacturing tool.